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(WIP post)
(Fluxx, don't mind this. I have yet to determine if the first bit should be adjusted or not...I'm just storing this to make sure I don't lose this draft.)

S276 - Silence said:
The Shrine caretaker doesn't seem phased in the slightest, turning his head briefly to glance at Horn, his crooked posture still remaining just as poor as it had before.

"It would be within all of our best interests not to, I apologize."


Raylen glares at him, fury in his squinted eyes.

"You, ARSENAL saved you! How can you turn around and let them kill her?!"


Venevo thinks for a moment, a quiet click as he turns his head skyward, staring up into the lofty ceiling, head moving slightly, as if inspecting something.

"Mid-afternoon. You all have remained unconscious for nearly half the day, I was beginning to grow worried that some of you would not awaken."


Raylen looks at her, incredibly confused.

"How can you say that.. after all you went through with these people? I know you and I only met under really bad circumstances and we haven't talked but.. don't you remember what you went through with almost everyone here? The Nemesis Tests, the SEAR DaRU, fleeing during that Sol's rebirth.. Does all of that mean nothing to you..?"

Venevo looks at him, very much confused.

"You were one of those who did not carry an Amnesia Drive upon inspection, but you mean to tell me you-..."

He trails off.

"Forgive my intrusion, but you wouldn't happen to be part of Subject Group 01, would you?"

Raylen looks confused for a moment.

"No, I was part of.. I think it was Group 03, with Challus, Celtee, Maverick, Aegis, and.. I believe it was Dane?"

"I am afraid I have heard of none of them.. apologies."

"... We can speak later, I am rather curious as to how the whole Testing system has changed, but I believe discussing such now would be counterproductive to the wellbeing of our freshly awakened arrivals."

Raylen seems pretty confused.

"Oh.. okay."
Click to expand...
Aurora look towards Raylen, hatred in her eyes.
"...Oh, I'll tell you how I can say that."
Aurora floats closer to Raylen, livid, almost as if ready to grab him by the shirt of his collor.
"Not everyone was all buddy buddy with everyone, you know."
"These "supposed compatriots of mine"?! THEY were all perfectly happy to leave me and a dragon just as lost as all of them were."
Aurora briefly surrounds Raylen in a flashback of Aurora's, Vrajlax, Vell, Helanne, W.O.R.T., and Nikola charging headfirst, with Aurora, right in front of him, being the only one who noticed Yrivi on the side. But it goes away just as quickly.

"I can HARDLY say we were :red:ING FRIENDS, YOU IDIOT. WE BARELY WORKED TOGETHER."
Another image of Vell bubbles up to the surface, him looking lividly at another projection of Aurora.
"Time will tell if you're worth remembering."
"TO SAY NOTHING OF OUR STUPID LEADER WHO CLEARLY HAS NO REGARD FOR THE PEOPLE HE TOOK CHARGE OVER. HELANNE THIS, HELANNE THAT."
Aurora doesn't even seem to notice the image of Vell she summoned, that melting away and disappearing as quickly as it came.
"AND I'M PRETTY SURE THE AMNESIA DRIVES HELPED SO MUCH WITH US CARING ANYTHING ABOUT EACH OTHER. YES."
Aurora appears to do a double take, as if something Raylen said only just registered for her.
"WHICH SO FAR, SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEVER HAD!"
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW HALF OF WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"
Aurora laughs a bit, probably already starting to lose it, laughing as if it were all some kind of sick joke.
"PROBABLY BECAUSE THE AMNESIA DRIVE HIT ME AS WELL!"

"...What...?"
"You weren't even there, Sylveon. Shut up."

S276 - Silence said:
That would be the doors towards the back of the chapel. They're large, arching, and built of some sort of ancient wood framed in a silvery gray metal. They slam shut with a boom in-front of her face.

Venevo's metal hand is raised, humming quietly as it twitches slightly.

"For your own sake, I would like to ask we all talk through what we know overall before trying to leave. You all may set off without me if is your wish, but I was tasked with getting you back on your feet, but more importantly, helping you collect your thoughts... To do so is a collective effort."

He goes quiet for a moment.

"If you won't do that for me, can you do it for His Radiance? It was his decree, not mine. Although I feel no reason to spend so many of my resources in aiding a group of half dead subjects with a collection force probably already seeking you out, I was stated to do as much. Consider this the highest honor you shall receive in your time down here. There is nowhere more hospitable than under the protection of his Radiance, Tsae."
Click to expand...
"..."
Aurora takes a few deep breaths.

<...Tsae...>
<...That word again...>
<...Maybe...>

"...I have no intention of setting off, Venevo."
Aurora turns around.
"I'd just quite like if I could get some air, please."
"Maybe..."
Aurora trails off, realising Venevo is already talking to someone else. Pixie walks towards Aurora, feelers reaching for Aurora's necklance.
"...Misdreavus-"
Aurora swats away the feelers.
"The name's Aurora. Do not confound me with that weakling descendant species of mine. And you do not get to control me either."
Pixie, staring Aurora down, simply closes his eyes and clears his throat.
"...You don't seem to be alright at all..."
"I'm not alright." Aurora says that tersely, before listening properly to what Venevo had to say. Pixie, noticing this, decides to listen to what Venevo says as well.

S276 - Silence said:
Venevo nods calmly with a little crackle from his neck.

"You are mostly correct. The purpose of an Amnesia drive is clearly present in its name, and yes, those who installed the drives into your heads are the same ones who built this.. "ARSENAL" machine. The error comes in the inclusion of the radiant liquid I have come to know as "Coral". This substance, if improperly refined, is able to retain an organic-like sentience, empathy, kindness, emotion. A poorly constructed unit could have this Coral mesh with their baseline processors to create a sentient machine able to reason and feel, a process usually not cared for due to the factory-like refinement that Coral undergoes, the margin for error incredibly low. This begs the question of this being, perhaps, an inside job done by someone in charge of constructing the units. Perhaps this machine was a variable for experimentation as well."

"I doubt ARSENAL would remember after all that has occurred since, but this is not the first time we have met. If this is truly ARSENAL, the same machine arrived nearly a decade ago, albeit in.. much better condition. If she were not coherent during the arrival of Saint and his friends, Tsae would've thrown them all into the mantle. In fact, if it were not ARSENAL you all arrived with, I believe he might've thrown you all into the mantle as well.."

"Sorry.. I'm getting off topic. I assume that, if this unit truly does wish to help, it would've quickly rebuilt itself from the ground up to avoid being able to be remotely controlled, likely transferring its sentience into a temporary body as it rebuilt its default form."


"Ah.. Nemesis Tests. The dueling of a mechanical doppelganger with its subject, a combat simulation to determine one's strengths and weaknesses, to refine the opposing combat machine.. and then to bring both together to create weapons able to destroy entire armies, a squad of them capable of laying siege to an entire planet.. weapons built to kill the Sols."

"As for the rest, I am rather unsure. The Amnesia Drive does as the name suggests. As for Tsae however, he is the dietic figure that this Shrine was built for. A Sol warrior of highest renown, he cast his entire presence forth to fight the scourge who came from another-sphere's stars. The guardian of this now-dead world, formerly known as Solus, the great capital of the Sols, Tsae was this planet's Radiance, with very few others throughout the cosmos anywhere close to his formidability. While many Sols ruled with an iron fist, Tsae was a benefactor, splitting his presence into friendly shapes and forms, conversing with and bestowing blessings upon the mortal living across its surface. They loved Tsae, and as such, allowed their world to become a peaceful harbor for any Sols who wished to travel and trade amidst the cosmos.. It makes sense that the first place the Scourge would strike was where all of Sol-kind made peace."
Click to expand...
"...ARE YOU DONE WITH YOUR WORDY SPIELD, VENEVO!?"
"BECAUSE IF SO, I'D QUITE SOME SPACE SO-"
Pixie practically slaps Aurora in the face, defensively standing between Aurora and Venevo, accidentally whacking her necklace as his feelers pass through her face.
"Give him some respect. You are not helping anyone. Including yourself."
Aurora looks down.
"...As if that wasn't always the case..."
 
One of the issues Thomas Aquinas was facing in his day was the double truth theory, which basically said that something can be true in philosophy, and false in religion at the same time; or it can be true by faith, but false in science at the same time. He realized that if you had that kind of disjunction between faith and reason, an antithesis between science and religion, you would end up as an intellectual schizophrenic and it would make truth impossible to reconcile. And so, what he did was he said that there are certain truths that we learn from nature, and other truths that we learn from grace, neither of which contradict each other.
 
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